We asked our readers which camera features don’t exist yet but should. Hundreds of ideas were proposed, ranging from the practical to the downright hilarious.
Last week’s Question of the week asked: what one camera feature that doesn’t yet exist would you like to have? More than 100 DPReview readers responded with ideas ranging from practical improvements to hilarious and ambitious reimaginings of what a camera could do.
Built-in GPS, a true raw histogram and smartphone-style computational photography came up repeatedly. So did requests for more durable travel cameras, universal flash triggering, sensor-based tilt control and a return to smart depth-of-field modes. Below, we’ve gathered 10 of the most interesting suggestions – and a few wonderfully unconventional ones.
#1 – Built-in GPS, and why it’s harder than it sounds
GPS and geotagging were the most requested new camera features, with several posters adding location tracking and anti-theft locking to this bucket type. This makes sense. Who doesn’t want to know where they and their gear are at all times… right?
mach21photo asked for “a way to remotely brick your stolen camera.”
thielges explained why in-camera GPS has been unpopular: “it can take minutes to re-lock, and keeping it on drains the battery”. His suggested fix is to tether the camera to a phone over Bluetooth and stamp the phone’s location into the EXIF data. A winning solution.
#2 – Computational photography, but on the photographer’s terms
Several of you want smartphone-style processing in “real” cameras. Cameras and phones seem to be ever growing closer together, so you may actually get this wish someday.
jande9 wants a camera that constantly takes pictures in the background, so that pressing the shutter produces an image that averages each pixel to reduce noise, and that sends the result straight to the phone, much as a phone does today.
Mario F. described a very specific use case: an in-camera “window pull” HDR mode for real estate and interior photographers, who currently spend hours blending brackets for every property.
jesbe took that idea even further and asked for in-camera raw processing that runs while the camera is on standby or charging, using full Lightroom-level profiles, plus a compact with a real zoom, real flash and larger sensor but phone-level processing tricks.
#3 – A true raw histogram
If computational photography isn’t of interest, how about a real raw histogram, raw-based zebras and a waveform display tech?
The community drilled down on a technical level as to why JPEG-based histograms mislead, with nobru1958 explaining the in-camera processing behind it and mcantsin noting that digital cinema cameras already offer raw exposure tools.
#4 – Cameras you can open up, lock down and trust
Franck Mee had three “simple” requests: standard Bluetooth audio support, file encryption (“a matter of life and death for reporters”) and open-source firmware, so that poor operating behavior can be fixed and security updates can be applied.
Others added their support, including patrol_taking_9j, who put it in two words: “Open firmware.”
A very practical set of considerations.
#5 – Designed for how people really shoot
IEBA1 wants more ruggedness in compact travel zooms. After, unfortunately, two of his had died, including one dropped while being pulled from a pocket (whoops), IEBA1 would happily accept a slightly larger body with a magnesium frame and a grip.
Chris Cookson wants a waterproof camera small enough for a rock pool or shallow creek, with at least a Micro Four Thirds sensor and strong macro capability, asking: “More of the earth is under water than in air, so why is it impossible to find a more capable go anywhere camera?” Great point, Chris!
#6 – Built-in wireless TTL flash triggering
Wireless flash control was a recurring wish, often accompanied by complaints about proprietary systems. psartman kept it short: “Built-in wireless TTL flash triggering.” When a reply pointed to a Nikon body that does this through its pop-up flash, psartman answered that many advanced and professional bodies don’t have a built-in flash.
Phill L wants to end the problem at the hot shoe, literally: “The end of proprietary hot shoes. Get with the game and have all brands’ flashes work on all cameras, with at least most of the functionality. Just add a digital communication bus so each brand can add their own special features and communicate through it. Sort of like USB but for flashes.”
#7 – In-camera back tilt movements capability
Several of you want the camera to do what a tilt lens does, using the sensor stabilization system. dan pv had a good take on the idea:
“In-camera back tilt movement capabilities. The sensor could be tilted for a close-to-far sharpness at any f-stop in landscape or product photography. It could be done by the camera IBIS, extended a bit. One could choose on the LCD screen 2-3 points of sharpness, and the processor could compute and automatically apply the needed sensor tilt.”
L Lenson agreed and suggested where it could start: “At least medium format backs should have this capability. They are already expensive as it is, so adding the extra cost would perhaps not matter so much.” L Lenson also noted that the closest thing available today is a lens with a defect in which one side focuses closer than the other.
#8 – Borrowing tricks from astronomy
Perhaps the most ‘out there’ answer came from geekyrocketguy, who wants cameras to read the sensor non-destructively during an exposure:
“My background is astronomy, and this is a standard technique for the detectors there. It’s called ‘read up the ramp’ or ‘sample up the ramp.’ Basically, the sensor gets read out many times during an exposure and is only reset at the start. This offers the potential to greatly reduce read noise.”
This is actually a big deal. If a bright object saturates after three of ten reads, its brightness can be extrapolated from those three reads, which greatly extends dynamic range. For night and landscape work, geekyrocketguy calls it “game-changing.”
#9 – Bringing back DEP/A DEP
Not every idea was for something new. Several of you asked for the return of a feature that older Canon film and digital cameras already had: depth-of-field modes that work out the aperture for you, based on the nearest and farthest points you want sharp.
The idea came up in more than one post, and the most developed version, which drew some of the most reactions in the thread, came from Tony Hall, who would also like it updated for modern subject detection.
Bring back DEP (or A-DEP) in which the camera calculates depth of field for you.
“Bring back DEP (or A-DEP) in which the camera calculates depth of field for you, either automatically or by defining a start and end point for your depth of field. Today, it would probably be called “smart aperture”. It could have various modes you could toggle by assigning a button to flip through them:
- Portrait: Both eyes in focus, eyes and ears or entire head in focus
- All detected faces in focus
- Only registered faces in focus
- Touch screen: touch near limit, touch far limit
- Similar settings for animals and other detected objects
While they’re at it, throw in some zone focusing modes you can assign to a button.”
rawdinal described how the original worked on the Canon EOS 5: “Focus on the closest point, focus on the farthest point. Then shoot.” He added a mysterious bit about the mode: “Nobody knows why this wonderful Mode was ripped off.”
#10 – Old ideas that deserve a revival
Anyone remember the Contax AX, which focused by moving the film plane rather than the lens? It imagined a smaller modern take that could autofocus vintage primes.
ismith talked about it and said that he wanted “cool cameras” back, such as a new take on Sony’s DSC-R1.
A few bonus ideas for fun
When writing this article, I knew we would come across some wild ideas, but this one is extra unique. “A rope-pull starter for an internal combustion camera”, from focal yokel. It was noticed by our own reviews editor, Mitchell Clark, who said it would only work “if it takes, like, 5 times to get it running like most of the lawnmowers I’ve used.”
hieronymusevers asked for “the absence of 95% of all features a modern camera has,” which drew plenty of agreement from fans of simpler cameras. We can all relate to this sentiment at times, I bet.
Thanks to our inventive community for coming up with some truly unique and interesting new features that help us get the most out of our gear. I’ll take two of those internal combustion cameras, please.
Do you have a new feature to suggest? Join the discussion in the forums and tell us (and by extension, your favorite camera company) the feature you’d most like to see.
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